First Day Traditions

We had our first day of the new school year about 2 weeks ago. I hope to get the pictures of our annual Back-to-School Treasure Hunt up soon. In the meantime here are photos of our traditional Walk-to-School we do every year on the first day. Daddy always leads them and it's something they look forward to. This was Princess' first year walking with a backpack on. Isn't she precious? I can't believe how quickly all our children are growing up.

Off they go!

Crossing the Street

It was a short walk this year as the heat index was 106.

Here they come!

Up the driveway & on their way to greet their teacher!

Soon after we had our special First-Day-of-School meal. This year it was a picnic lunch. Oh, so yummy! Hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, beans, corn on the cob & Kool-aid. A fun way to start off our 11th year! =0)

Walk to School

Every year we have a tradition of the kids walking to school. Dave usually takes them down the block while I wait and take pictures. Then they come to "school" & I as their teacher greet them & welcome them to a new year. This year Daddy had to work =( . But the kids didn't want to give up their walk. Instead Sweet Pea led them & they all followed with backpacks in tow.

Here they come!

We also have a yearly tradition of taking a group picture on the front steps. We did this at our home in MA too. I love looking back at these.

Welcome to the 2010-2011 learning year!

FREE! FREE! FREE!

Here is Elvis with his High Sierra backpack from Staples.

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Staples & Office Max are having some AMAZING deals this week! They are offering backpacks for FREE! Yes, you read that right. Office Max will give you your money back in Office Perks (rewards). It is like a gift card to spend in their store. Dave & I plan to buy our toner there anyway so in our eyes it's a "Buy a toner, Get a backpack for free" deal. Sweet! Just remember to sign up for their rewards and either bring your member number into the store or add it to your account online. Staples is offering a free backpack too. You will get it back after you send in your rebate form. You can do this easily online and they give the money back to you in the form of a Visa Gift Card. How can you pass these up?

These are the Jansport backpacks we bought at Office Max. I am setting these aside for now. One of the great things about Jansport is they have a lifetime guarantee. Bonus!

Organization, PLEASE!

I am under great stress. I have SO much to do. Going away for 3 weeks didn't help any. I came back to a week of extreme heat, humidity and working VBS. It was all great, though exhausting, but I have tons on my 'To Do' List. When did summer get so short?

I have been working all weekend and most of the week on school stuff. My main focus was on Sweet Pea's 4-year course of study. She will be starting high school this year and I was terrified of messing up. Well, maybe not terrified but it was constantly in my thoughts. A veteran homeschool mom took me under her wing and helped me plan it all. I had it written out and she validated, added, suggested and advised. What a blessing! I now feel confident that Sweet Pea has a solid course load and will be prepared for college when that time comes.

My next project has been our workboxes. Oy vey! They have turned into a place for anything & everything. Usually things that my kids don't feel like putting away in the right place. Here are some pictures of the start of our work. I'll post finished pics later. Anyone else working on some back-to-school stuff yet?

Before we start Princess entertains us.

The "Before" shot.

Doesn't show the full damage but believe me the floor is stashed with junk as are all the drawers.

Princess insists that she vaccum with Boo Bear EVERY time!

Sweet Pea washes out all the workboxes.

Not a happy camper to be contained.

Elvis decides what will go & what will stay.

I made the kids do most of the work because honestly they made the mess. They needed guidance and I was there to delegate, motivate, praise & keep them on task.

Sweet Pea

Sweet Pea with her school goodies.

Treasure Hunt!

It's time for our Back-to-School Treasure Hunt pictures! This year was a bit different as Sweet Pea was away & Daddy wasn't going to be there for our official first day. We had our treasure hunt on Sunday night so Daddy could be with us and then had our first day of school the next day. Then later on in the week we had our official first day for the whole family. Confused? So was I a bit. Lol! It all turned out okay even if it was a bit mixed up. The kids were super excited as always. Dave made their clues and I had the backpacks all packed up with their supplies &  a few fun surprises. We were set to go!

It is tradition that the youngest goes first. Bugs was the first to go. Here he is getting his first clue from Daddy.

He dived under the couch to find his next clue.

This was cute. He knew it was the sink but for some reason looked everywhere on it but the faucet. It took him a good minute or two before he noticed the clue. Lol!

Found it!The next clue sent him running outside.

Handing it for Daddy to read

He found his treasure!

Now for the best part! Opening it up!

He has lots of things to keep him entertained during school time.

Next is Elvis' turn!

First to the pantry!

And then to Daddy's shed.

This year he was able to read his own clues making it even more of an adventure.

A chilly treasure is found in the chest freezer. =0)

A very happy boy.

(P.S. He has outgrown Diego but likes his backpack b/c it is large. Plus he doesn't care too much what's on the pack as he's not into whatever is the latest fad. He just likes that it holds his stuff. I love that!)

Unpacking his new school things.

Looking through his new pencil box.

Boo's turn!

Her hunt began in the bathroom. Daddy is so silly! Lol!

Next to shed #2

There it is!

Elvis shows us all his new school things.

Yay!

Bugs is very happy with his Transformer ring.

This was a fun surprise for Boo.

A closer look at Elvis' treasures.

A Hunt for Shared Treasure

This year we added something new. A bin of treasures for all of them to share. I wanted to take out some of the things we had put away & forgotten about. Plus I wanted to add some new things I bought for this year. Doing the workboxes I hope to have more opportunities to use these.

Finding the clues for the shared treasure.

The excitement grows & off they run!

Yes!

Shared Treasure

Lots of new games thanks to yard sales! Also flashcards, bingo, movies, books & pool rings. Yay!

A closer look.

Up close look at the new-to-us games.

Boo poses with her little sister & her new treasures.

An up close look at Boo's treasures.

As you can see she is a big fan of Hannah Montana.

Elvis is also very happy with his new Transformer ring.

(I was thrilled to find them for 50 cents on clearance at the Party Store.)

These devotions I bought back at Christmas but have yet to be used. Frankly I think we forgot about them once they were shelved. But now they are back and ready to be read!

The kids insisted on doing their traditional walk to school. It kind of cracked me up since it was evening & we weren't starting school until the next morning. But it also touched my heart as I realized how much our kids enjoy our simple traditions.

Sky, the cat, followed them. Too cute!

Here they come marching home.

Our traditional annual picture on the front steps.

I didn't place any of their curriculum in their backpacks this year. There simply wasn't any room! I might take pics of it later in case anyone is curious.

The kids were very happy with all their new school treasures. I love having these fun traditions.